Rennyo, posthumous name Kenju Daishi, assumed name Shinshō-in (born April 4, 1415, Kyōto, Japan—died May 5, 1499, Kyōto) Japanese Buddhist leader and eighth patriarch of the Hongan Temple in Kyōto.

Rennyo, statue in Osaka, Japan.

Joe Jones

Rennyo furthered the Buddhist reform initiated by Shinran (13th century) that created the Jōdo Shinshū (“True Pure Land sect”) and inspired the Ikkō rebellions, 15th-century uprisings by militant, religious-political Buddhist societies against Japanese feudal lords. Generally regarded as the restorer of the Jōdo Shin sect, Rennyo undertook the compilation of the Sanjō wasan—three of the volumes of Buddhist poems and hymns (wasan) written by Shinran to expound his religious views—and oversaw the rebuilding of the Hongan Temple at Yamashina, on the outskirts of Kyōto.

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It was during this period that Rennyo (1415–99) of the Shin (True) sect of Pure Land Buddhism rose to prominence, teaching his principles in simple phrases. His base, the Hongan Temple in Kyōto, was attacked and burned, however, by the still-powerful Enryaku Temple. Rennyo was forced to flee north to the coast of the Sea of Japan, where he established a school at Yoshizaki. He then...